I don’t know if they do it on purpose, but just as the Halloween candy high begins its rapid descent to pre-Thanksgiving sloth, parent-teacher conferences start popping up.

I went to Joseph’s yesterday. It wasn’t much of a surprise. I was told he was happy, friendly, polite, and very serious. I shared a few of his observations about school and his teacher expressed surprise at how funny and witty he is.

Which was a surprise.

Joseph has a very keen sense of humor, even going to far as to make up his own Halloween knock knock joke. Dressed as a Lego Monster Fighter Ghost—or, at least, my version of it—he cracked us up with:

“Knock. Knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“Boo.”

“Boo who?”

“Aw. Don’t cry. I’m just a little ghost.”

Comic. Gold.

So I was a little surprised when Mrs. G said she hadn’t seen evidence of his sense of humor. Until I remembered Joseph sees school as Very Serious Business Indeed.

After the conference, I took the kids out to dinner where we could discuss what his teacher and I had talked about. I went over a few things from his report card and then asked him why his teacher wouldn’t know he had a great sense of humor.

He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Maybe she doesn’t think it’s funny.”

And then I had a thought—a horrible thought. Maybe I have the sense of humor of a first grader!

Mandy Dawson is the creator of In Mandyland, an almost daily blog recording her adventures in juggling a full-time job, two active children, four arguing hens, a fluffy bunny, and one ex-husband. A self-diagnosed gardening and crafting addict, she often finds herself gluing together clay pots and trying to discover the cure for brown thumb. When she’s not writing, she can be found burning dinners while she stares off into space with a story idea. She was a regular contributor for Makes Fun of Stuff, Aiming Low, and Six Kitchens, and has been featured on BlogHer and Mamapedia. She is an Assistant Editor for Write on Edge and has had her fiction featured in three anthologies currently available on Amazon.